This article was originally published in “Your Middle Schooler: A Unique Age” in 2008. I try to include information on hearing history in every evaluation I perform. Not just for curiosity but because I really feel early hearing history plays a significant roll in language development and “learning to listen”. Last time I asked audiologists were not supporting this correlation. I hope things have changed. Because it is not a big issue in audiology, I have a hard time getting most administrators to accept this as an issue. As long as the kids pass the school screening, life is good. If universal supports were put in place around hearing and acoustics in general imaging the problems that could be avoided. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2008 Chronic Otitis Media and Risk of Reading Failure While this...

What an acronym. After reading in forums I found out what this means American Academy of Private Practice in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Their site looks professional and the group seems to have a lot to offer. Does anyone out there belong? Is this an organization worth joining? Reasonable rates. Teresa I received this response to my question when I posed it on ASHA forums….Thanks Denise We have been in existence since 1964 and our mission is to support the private practitioner. Each year we offer a business or clinical institute as well as a two day conference devoted to business, legal and clinical topics. Our webinars are live as well as archived for on demand viewing and we offer ASHA ceu’s. Our seminars coming up in the summer and fall include Sara Ward...

Paula Stone,M.S.,C.C.C.-SLP wrote: I would like to spend time discussing evaluation procedures for children who are severe to profound but chronologically are beyond the PLS 5. Thank you for considering this important discussion. Evaluating severely involved children who are below age ranges for test measures is extremely difficult. Being in the public schools we do run across this every so often. I can only tell you what I do. I’m not familiar with the Preschool Language Scale 5 but I do remember how the old PLS worked. I think you should be able to apply some of the information below. If there is anyone else out there who works in a setting where most of the kids are severe to profound in their development please add in your information. Especially if there are language...

This was originally posted in “Your Middle Schooler: A Unique Age” in October 2008. This information actually ties in with the message in the movie “The Road to Nowhere” Over the past several years, many books have been written about how we as parents and we as a society put too much pressure on kids. I’ve purchased several, read a couple and scanned a few. The world is different these days and kids are under a lot more pressure to perform earlier than we ever were. Pressure to perform at school, on the athletic field and with peers have lead to anxiety, acting out and even suicide. Obviously, too much continuous pressure is not a good thing for anyone.These days children grow up quicker, they are left alone more often and participate in organized...

I was recently asked by a new therapist, working at the middle school level, if I was able to use curriculum material in therapy. Over the years I found that it was very difficult to incorporate curriculum into therapy. So I guess my answer is no but with some clarifications and of course exceptions. *Speech therapists generally don’t see the kids often enough to keep up with the curriculum. Most of my students in middle school also work with a special education teacher that services them much more often both in and out of the classroom. The special education teachers are or at least should be connected to the regular education teachers. *Therapy groups are often made up of students from several different classes (sometimes even different grades) rarely are they working on...

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Welcome to The School Speech Therapist

This site provides information on speech and language development and remediation, for parents, teachers and administrators. This is also a place where therapists can network, share ideas, consult with each other and express concerns.

Strong language skills will not only aid success in school but in life as well.